Cake "Heart" for February 14: cooking recipes and decoration

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

Valentine's Day always requires some special preparations - it is necessary to buy gifts, then prepare a festive dinner. And we offer you a more interesting and creative alternative - to express all your immense love for your family and friends, just bake a "Heart" cake, which has the right design for such a holiday.

Why cake?

Before we proceed to the cooking process itself, we want to explain our choice to you. Undoubtedly, many people prefer to receive a tasty gift, for example, a festive lunch or dinner, which can be made up of several dishes. Use different outlandish products, and then present it all beautifully.

But we still believe that the most interesting just begins after the main meal. It's time to drink tea, and what can go better with it than the "Heart" cake made by your caring hands?

Desserts are also easier to decorate,to emphasize their direct purpose, and thanks to the unusual shape of our dish, you will definitely blow everyone away who wants to celebrate February 14th.

List of ingredients

To make it easier for you to navigate this article, we will break it down in such a way that the components used immediately go into action. That is why, we will start with the most important thing, with the test. You will need:

• chicken eggs - 4 pcs;
• sugar - 150 g;
• flour - 100 g;
• vanillin - 1 tsp

Step one: making the biscuit

• Separate the proteins from the yolks and place them in separate containers, previously wiped from water.
• Sift the flour thoroughly so that no lumps remain in it.
• Prepare the mold in advance by making a "French shirt" with butter and flour. Just grease all surfaces, and then sprinkle with flour, after which we remove the excess part.
• In a separate container, beat the yolks with two types of sugar until it dissolves and the total mass is lightened. In this case, you can use not only a hand mixer, but also an ordinary whisk, with which it will also be easy to achieve the desired result.
• Also beat the whites with sugar separately to soft peaks, then divide into three equal portions.
• Add one part of the protein to the yolk mixture, add all the flour, gently mixing so that it does not scatter, and then mix in the remaining proteins.
• Put the dough into the form and sendin the oven, preheated to 180 degrees for 30-35 minutes. Keep in mind that every oven is different, so after 25 minutes of cooking, test the cake by piercing it with a long skewer.
• Leave the finished biscuit for the night, after covering the top with a towel or film.
• We give the finished cake a shape using a ready-made or home-made paper stencil. This way we get a cake in the shape of a heart.

List of ingredients for impregnation

After we baked the cakes and left them to rest, it's time to prepare the impregnation, which will make them more juicy and soft. Since the "Heart" cake for February 14 requires some special and bright notes, we will create them with the help of alcohol.

But don't worry, it will completely disappear, leaving behind only distinct notes of fragrant spices. So you need:

• sugar - 130 g;
• water - 120 ml;
• alcohol - 1 tbsp. l.

Preparation of syrup impregnation

1. Pour sugar into a clean small saucepan, then pour it with water.
2. We wait and do not move away from the stove until the sugar is completely dissolved in water, without bringing the liquid to a strong boil.
3. Remove the container with syrup from the stove, then cool it to room temperature.
4. Once the liquid has cooled, add alcohol to it, which can be easily replaced with fruit juice or a ready-made drink like coffee. Thus, you can independently adjust the tastes andexperiment with new supplements.

List of cream ingredients

Cake "Heart", the recipe of which we are carefully considering today, cannot become truly tasty without a delicate and dense cream. It is this that we will now prepare from very simple and improvised ingredients. We will need:

• butter - 200 g;
• condensed milk - 1/2 cup.

Preparation of gentle cream

1. We take the butter out of the refrigerator in advance so that it lies for about 30 minutes and slightly melts.
2. Beat the soft butter with a hand mixer or a whisk until light, after which we begin to carefully pour in the condensed milk, continuing to mix the mass.
3. As soon as all the components are combined together, we can assume that the cream is ready. It can be used both for layering cakes and for external coating. By the way, since decorating the "Heart" cake is quite difficult, you can add a few drops of liquid dye to the cream to give it brightness.

Assembling the cake

• We take the stale cakes and, giving them the shape of a heart, we soak them with syrup. Do not add too much, as the cakes can get soggy, and the "Heart" cake will turn out flimsy.
• In the pre-prepared form, put the first cake so that the outer crust looks down, and then cover it with a good layer of freshly prepared cream. If you do not have a ready-made form, thenyou can easily replace it with a homemade foil version.
• We take the second cake, and put it on our entire "construction" crust up.
• We cover it with a soufflé made from gelatin and milk. This is very simple and quick to do - soak the gelatin in a glass of milk, then leave it for 1-1.5 hours. After swelling, you need to bring the liquid to a boil and dissolve the gelatin, and then quickly remove it from the stove. Separately, beat the cold cream and add it to the milk mixture. Cool the resulting soufflé in the refrigerator, and only then apply the next layer on our "Heart" cake.
• Since we are preparing the "Heart" cake without mastic, it means that berry jelly will serve as the top decoration. You can buy ready-made, or you can use berry juice and gelatin. It is as easy to prepare as it is to pronounce its name, and most importantly, these are exactly the same steps as when creating a soufflé. Of course, without the addition of cream, since they are not required for jelly.
• Never put hot jelly on the cake, because this way you will ruin everything right away. Just wait until it comes to room temperature, then pour into a chilled cake pan. The finished dessert is best put in the refrigerator overnight.

Cake decoration

How to make a "Heart" cake so that tasters will take their breath away at just one glance? Of course, decorate it in the best way!

There are several options for decorating the dessert,and it's up to you to decide which one you choose, but we are sure that everything should be kept in pink and red colors.

1. First idea. You can use our homemade cream with condensed milk. If you cool it well, and also give color with the help of liquid dyes, then you can perfectly mask all the bumps on the sides. Using a pastry bag or, in extreme cases, an ordinary spoon, you can betray the edges of some original relief or even replace it with roses.
2. Second idea. No one doubts that bright green mint leaves will look good with such a cake. They can not only be put on top for decoration, but also fixed with cream in some places on the sides. But still, be careful and do not overdo it, as mint can be very bitter.
3. Third idea. Using berry jelly for the top final layer, we can easily take fresh berries and fruits for decoration. Large strawberries, blackberries and raspberries will look especially great, but if they are hard enough to find, then you can replace them with the usual kiwi, peaches or bananas. And so that the whole structure holds firmly and does not fall, it can be fixed with cream.
4. The fourth idea. A heart-shaped cake will look very cool if we use chocolate chips and other sweets. In the first case, you can decorate the edges with it, creating a velor effect and a very beautiful texture. And in the second case, you can simply decorate the top with chocolates, various bars and sweets that you need to be withcareful, as they may start to melt from the heat of your hands.

As a last resort, you can always use the help of powdered sugar and decorative confectionery toppings, which are very easy to find these days. Edible beads, chocolate curls and just a variety of solid color sprinkles will look especially great.

Thus, you will not only get the coveted "Heart" cake, but also unforgettable impressions and a huge amount of memories that will definitely warm your heart. So this article ends here, and in place with it, your baking and pastry opportunities increase!